The bloated New Zealand government

Snap quiz: how many ministries does the New Zealand government have, as in Minister of This and Minister for That? I’ve undertaken the herculean task of writing a list: as you read this consider not only the number of ministries, but also which areas of your life (and other people’s) that our slave masters deem it necessary to manage. For the sake of brevity I have written the name of each ministry in the simplest form possible:

1. tourism
2. finance
3. infrastructure
4. economic development
5. energy & resources
6. justice
7. state owned enterprises
8. commerce
9. health
10. state services
11. environment
12. climate change issues
13. accident compensation corporation
14. police
15. corrections
16. veteran’s affairs
17. education
18. tertiary education
19. treaty of waitangi negotiations
20. arts, culture, & heritage
21. agriculture
22. biosecurity
23. foreign affairs
24. sport & recreation
25. rugby world cup
26. trade
27. conservation
28. defence
29. research, science & technology
30. transport
31. communications & information technology
32. courts
33. pacific island affairs
34. disarmament and arms control
35. disability issues
36. youth affairs
37. fisheries
38. housing
39. ethnic affairs
40. women’s affairs
41. immigration
42. broadcasting
43. labour
44. food safety
45. building & construction
46. customs
47. statistics
48. small business
49. internal affairs
50. land information
51. civil defence
52. senior citizens
53. racing
54. local government
55. regulatory reform
56. consumer affairs
57. community & voluntary sector
58. revenue
59. forestry
60. social development & employment

You’ll probably need a cup of tea and a lie down after reading that, but while you’re lying down consider three things:

1) I could dispute the need for each and every one of these ministries, but let’s focus on a few: why on earth do we need to have the government managing arts, culture and heritage, or the community and voluntary sector, or sport and recreation? All together now, say after me: “nanny state”.

2) even if the government does need to manage all these aspects of daily life – a notion that I totally reject – why can’t they combine some of the ministries? E.g., agriculture, forestry, fisheries and biosecurity would be a logical combination, as would police, courts, justice and corrections. Additional combinations can be found with ease.

3) is there an area of your life that the government isn’t trying to manage? Sex, food, housing, money, employment, TV, rugby, the air you breathe and a trip to the art gallery are all covered; keep trying and a post a comment if you can think of one area of your life that isn’t ruled by a government ministry. If you fail to find one area of your life that isn’t managed by the government let me know as well.